{"391771":{"#nid":"391771","#data":{"type":"news","title":"InVenture for a younger generation","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAfter watching a neighbor struggle with a bathroom flood, Luke Gunter wondered why something didn\u2019t alert her when water reached a dangerously high level.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGunter teamed up with two friends and together they invented Watto Motto, a device that detects when water is about to overflow a bathtub or sink and sounds an alarm as an alert.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey designed multiple prototypes. They interviewed potential customers and researched market needs. They followed steps used by many Georgia Tech student inventors.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut they\u2019re not students at Tech. They\u2019re fifth-graders at Due West Elementary in Marietta.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDue West is one of four elementary schools participating in this year\u2019s InVenture Challenge. The program started in 2012 to expose more students to engineering and entrepreneurship.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAn extension of the annual InVenture Prize for Georgia Tech undergraduates, the InVenture Challenge encourages K-12 students to identify problems and test solutions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt was complicated but really a lot of fun,\u201d Gunter said. \u201cWe weren\u2019t sure it was going to work and we were scared it would break, but when it worked we starting jumping because we really thought we were going to mess it up. \u201c\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETop teams from each of the 11 elementary, middle and high schools participating in the challenge will exhibit their work on campus April 1.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents participating in the challenge work collaboratively and make the designs themselves, which allows learning to occur naturally, said Roxanne Moore, a research engineer with Tech\u2019s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) who helps run the program.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis is the first year elementary schools participated. Nancy Ernstes, a gifted teacher at Cheatham Hill Elementary, wanted her students to take part after seeing the success her daughter\u2019s roommate had with the 2014 InVenture Prize. The roommate, Rachel Ford, won second-place as a member of team Succette, which created smarter baby pacifiers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe InVenture Challenge encourages students to take risks and learn from their mistakes, said Ernstes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt has made them understand that engineering is really at their level and they can develop ideas and push themselves in that way,\u201c she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe students tackled problems big and small.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNo one wants melted ice cream,\u201d said Fernando Kirkconnell.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo prevent that, the fifth-grader from Cheatham Hill Elementary helped create Cold To Go, a plastic device that will keep ice cream cold and fresh.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe three-member team designed a double-walled plastic cup, filled with a mix of rubbing alcohol and water that people can freeze. Ice cream scooped into the cup and left on a kitchen counter stayed solid for more than two hours, the students said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe container fits in car cup holders, making it perfect for to-go orders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe think we can market this to stores that can put their logos on it and sell it to their customers,\u201d said Hayden Miller, another member of Cold To Go. \u201cBut for now we\u2019re just kids.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAn extension of the annual InVenture Prize for Georgia Tech undergraduates, the InVenture Challenge encourages K-12 students to identify problems and test solutions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Elementary school students use Georgia Tech program to learn entrepreneurial, engineering skills"}],"uid":"27918","created_gmt":"2015-03-30 15:51:21","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:05","author":"Laura Diamond","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-03-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-03-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"331301":{"id":"331301","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech\u0027s InVenture Challenge logo","body":null,"created":"1449245114","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:05:14","changed":"1475895041","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:41","alt":"Georgia Tech\u0027s InVenture Challenge logo","file":{"fid":"200370","name":"inventure2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/inventure2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/inventure2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":11949,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/inventure2_0.jpg?itok=AC_JvkpC"}}},"media_ids":["331301"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.inventureprize.gatech.edu\/hs-challenge\/inventure-challenge-georgia-high-schools","title":"InVenture Challenge"},{"url":"http:\/\/inventureprize.gatech.edu\/","title":"The InVenture Prize web site"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"3472","name":"entrepreneurship"},{"id":"105581","name":"InVenture Challenge"},{"id":"7764","name":"InVenture Prize"},{"id":"3447","name":"K-12"},{"id":"167258","name":"STEM"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELaura Diamond\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["laura.diamond@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}